Looking Out For Mistletoe -Parapines

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I don't own the fanart in any way.

"Hey! You're just in time!" Mabel beamed, ten feet away from me as I got closer, her chocolate brown hair swaying away from her face when she raised her arm with a happy greeting.

With my hands shoved in my pockets and with my scarf around my neck, I walked along the street, with all my being asking if I was feeling up to this little meeting.

Besides Mabel was Dipper, who pleasantly, looked to be in the same situation as me.
It wasn't exactly a good thing, but it just made me feel like I wasn't entirely on the wrong side.

To be honest, when I got up that day, I had immediately found lots of reasons to not go out. Between them, some were the neck pains and the small but annoying headache at the front of my head.

Once I was standing in front of them, my feet came to a halt.
"Hey." I shyly mumbled, the thought still lingering on.

It felt some what awkward to act so natural given the last circumstances when the three of us met.

"Hello." Dipper replied, his eyes looking surprisingly out of it. He looked tired, and the way he spoke seriously showed how he was craving some sleep. Either he had gotten up too early or went to bed too late.

"How have you been?" Mabel asked, sounding so sickeningly sweet that she either had to be faking it or, just like me, the stituation was equally awkward.

As I looked at her bright, beaming eyes I found myself at a loss of words.
None of this felt right.

"...fine, I guess." I looked at the ground, scratching the back of my neck.

As her eyes closed partially and her overbearing smile faded, setting for a more meaningful one, the topic seemed to be bothering both of us, so we made a mental note to change it and fast.

Maybe too soon, it seemed, because we backed off from each other a little, and worked on more optimistic approaches.

"So!" She said with a cheerful and dismissive tone.
"Right!" I followed her seconds after.

We both earned a glance from eachother, as well from Dipper, who had watched the whole exchange with questioning eyes.

"So..." Mabel tried again "unfortunately, Grenda got stuck on a surprise visit to her grandma's house, and Candy can only come meet us later because she said she had a "situation on her hands"."

Though it wasn't very obvious, I saw Dipper sigh in relief and mouth a 'Oh thank god', which made me snort.

I earned two more glances, so I did what the logical person would do and masked it as a tiny cough almost instantly.

"Sorry, huh...that's a shame." I replied.

Mabel looked disappointed, but still managed to shrug her shoulders.
"It's cool. I still have you guys!"

I found myself feeling a bit better.
I honestly could see her positive self being a good thing at the moment.

"Or at least you, Norman," she informed, as she walked over to her brother and pinched his cheek, which earned her a rather annoyed swat and an angry look from Dipper "seeing as Dipper hasn't woke up yet."

I looked at Dipper, who in return just rolled his eyes.

"Why the long face?" I asked, trying to get him to talk at least a little.

Mabel grabbed her sibling's shoulders, shaking him a bit.

"Grumpy pants didn't slept much last night, kept insisting on staying up on his computer doing 'research'." She explained.